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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26001949">glass eyes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparksurfer_rin/pseuds/sparksurfer_rin'>sparksurfer_rin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Bondage, F/F, M/M, Masturbation, Minor Ingrid/Dorothea, Mouth Kink, Oral Sex, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, Plot With Porn, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Semi-Public Sex, Top Dimitri, but i'm gonna make this work, dimiclaude, if you've seen the movie or read the book you'll know what i mean, man those hashtags do not go together, minor ferdibert, switch claude, this is not going to end well</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:41:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,825</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26001949</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparksurfer_rin/pseuds/sparksurfer_rin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Perhaps it's his silence. Perhaps it's his missing eye, torn from his face with only a strange scar left behind. Perhaps it's the sorrow in every slump of his shoulders, the way he sighs, the faraway look in his remaining, icy blue eye.<br/>No matter the reason, Claude finds himself inexplicably drawn to the man that stumbled into the palace one evening. His friends insist he means no harm, but Edelgard insists he means to bring down her Empire. Amid the stirring tension, Claude knows nothing for certain.<br/>He's not even sure Dimitri is human.</p><p>(The Last Unicorn AU)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan, Dorothea Arnault/Ingrid Brandl Galatea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Red Wolf Moon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello everyone! This will be my first explicit fic, so any constructive help is greatly appreciated. No smut in this first chapter, though; you horny folks will have to wait. You'll have to sit through (hopefully) natural relationship progression first.</p><p>This work is based off The Last Unicorn, one of my favorite childhood movies with many more deep themes than it's given credit for. Now with smut. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>The Unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone.</em>
</p><p>- The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle</p>
<hr/><p>He ran. His feet carried him faster than ever before. He ran, listening as the beast’s footfalls grew closer, its breath hot on his neck.</p><p>“DO SOMETHING!”</p><p>His friends shouted at each other, their voices slowly drowning beneath the sound of the beast’s snarls and his own heartbeat. He could see it out of the corner of his eye, reaching towards him. His screams pierced the night air.</p><p>“What do you expect me to do?!”</p><p>Panicked voices seemed to surround him. Wherever he turned, the beast stopped him, disfigured body towering over him, gnarled claws digging into the ground.</p><p>Uncontrollable terror welled up inside him, and he turned on his heel mid-stride. His wide eyes stared forward, dark branches whipping around his face, nearly stumbling once, twice.</p><p>“I can’t hurt it! Use your magic!”</p><p>“To do <em> what</em>?!”</p><p>“SOMETHING!”</p><p>He felt his body begin to slow. His lungs burned, his legs ached. Another scream died in his throat, and the beast roared in his ear, its enormous jaws hanging over him.</p><p>“THEA!”</p><p>Suddenly, a flash of light burst through the air, like lightning striking a moving target. His body froze.</p><p>He fell to the ground. The beast ran past him, stumbling into the trees.</p><p>He laid there, convulsing uncontrollably, pain shooting through him. He screamed, but a sound he didn’t recognize came from his lips instead.</p><p>The ground spiraled. Darkness surrounded him. He curled his body inward and gritted his teeth, willing the pain to stop.</p><p>The last thing he saw were their feet. The last thing he heard was her voice.</p><p>“… What have you done?”</p>
<hr/><p>They arrived just as the ocean swallowed up the last rays of sunlight.</p><p>Claude stared at them, three unfamiliar faces surrounded by the royal court. Seated beside him, the Emperor watched them with narrow, scrutinizing eyes. She and her vizier had never been those to shy away from strangers.</p><p>But Claude could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.</p><p>The woman at the head of the group, blonde with modest armor, looked around the room as if scouting out everyone there, hands close to her sides. When her eyes met Claude’s, he recognized the wary, defensive look there, the nerves ready to spring at a moment’s notice.</p><p>The other woman, a brunette in a performer’s red dress, held the last traveler by the arm; a tall man, ragged blond hair covering his face as he hunched forward, gripping a black coat tightly around his body.</p><p>Then he looked up. And Claude’s body froze.</p><p>A single blue eye, like icicles, like glaciers, stared at him from beneath his hair. Only a strange, star-shaped scar remained where the other eye should have been. Goosebumps traveled down Claude’s arms, his palms twitched beneath his gloves.</p><p>The man’s very presence felt <em> wrong</em>.</p><p>“You are guests in the court of Emperor Edelgard von Hresvelg,” Hubert spoke from the Emperor’s left, his voice booming through the hall. “Bow before Her Majesty.”</p><p>The two women hurriedly curtsied, bowing their heads. The man didn’t move. He only stared, first at Claude, then at Edelgard. His expression rested somewhere between a disgusted scowl and an indifferent frown.</p><p>“The High Wizard has given you an order!” Shouted Caspar, jutting his spear towards the man in the cloak. “Show Her Majesty the proper respect!”</p><p>“That won’t be necessary, Caspar.”</p><p>All eyes turned to the Emperor when she spoke. Edelgard raised her hand, waving it once dismissively, and Caspar faltered under her gaze.</p><p>He regained his composure after a small moment, casting a glare at the man but staying silent, stepping back with the other guards.</p><p>Edelgard turned back to the travelers as she asked, “What are our visitors’ names?”</p><p>The two women rose from their curtsies. The performer cleared her throat.</p><p>“I am Dorothea Arnault,” she proclaimed, her voice projecting through the room. “This is my companion, Ingrid Brandl Galatea, and this is-”</p><p>She stopped suddenly. Her face paled. She hurriedly looked to Ingrid, who sputtered out, “Dimitri!”</p><p>Claude raised an eyebrow. Ingrid cleared her throat at her own outburst, eyes darting between Dorothea and the man beside them.</p><p>“Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd,” she said, softer. “He’s my cousin.”</p><p>Claude eyed them. Perhaps only he noticed the hesitation, the panic flashing across their faces for the smallest of seconds. But to him, they stood out like lighting in a storm, like candles in an otherwise darkened alley.</p><p>If Edelgard noticed, she said nothing.</p><p>“For what purpose are you visiting my court today?” She asked. Her fingers drummed on her armrest, and her gaze never wavered from the group, staring the most at the man. He finally turned, so that only his ruined eye faced them.</p><p>Ingrid took a deep breath.</p><p>“We… We actually are looking to join it. Your court,” she said. “We’ve traveled a long way to this end.”</p><p>Edelgard kept her eyes on Dimitri as Ingrid spoke, as well as Claude, who watched as he stepped towards one of the throne room’s tall windows. His stiff shoulders seemed to relax a small bit.</p><p>“Dorothea and I have skills that could be useful to you, as a former guard and magician-” Ingrid stopped suddenly as Edelgard rose from her throne. “Your Majesty?” She added softly, but the Emperor said nothing, walking slowly down the dias’ steps and across the floor. Claude followed dutifully at her heel.</p><p>“Why does your cousin hide himself behind a cloak?” Edelgard asked as she approached Dimitri, who barely turned in her direction. His frown deepened.</p><p>“He was assaulted by bandits,” Dorothea spoke up. “T-they stripped him of his clothes and belongings, so he’s borrowing my coat.”</p><p>By the time she finished, Edelgard stood at Dimitri’s side, glaring upwards at him as if she had a deep bane with someone she had never met. He stared back, gaze hard, but not brimming with hate like the Emperor’s. Claude watched them silently, his hands gripping together behind his back.</p><p>Suddenly, Edelgard jumped back, and Claude instinctively put himself between her and Dimitri.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” He snapped, but Edelgard whirled around to the newcomers, fists clenched at her sides.</p><p>“What’s the matter with his eye?!”</p><p>Claude stared at her. He looked to Dimitri, who had turned back to the window almost immediately, then to the stunned women in the center of the court.</p><p>“H-he lost it,” Ingrid stammered, taken aback by the Emperor’s outburst, “to a harpy.”</p><p>Dimitri eyed Edelgard’s hand, watched as it snaked towards the axe at her side.</p><p>“I can see that, <em> fool</em>,” she growled. “What’s wrong with the <em> other </em> one?”</p><p>As she spoke, Claude looked to Dimitri again, only to watch as he slowly covered his missing eye with one hand. He turned to Claude like this, one eye hidden, the other staring at him as if looking straight into him.</p><p>Claude felt the smallest of gasps leave his lips. When he looked hard enough into Dimitri’s eye, he saw no reflection of himself or the throne room.</p><p>Instead, he could have sworn he even saw a forest glade, blue with morning mist.</p><p>The subtle but distinct clink of metal bound him back to the floor. He turned, and Edelgard’s hand wrapped around her axe’s hilt, glaring daggers at Dimitri. A small sigh dying before it can leave his mouth, Claude spoke.</p><p>“Your Highness?” He said, tone even but low, so only Edelgard could hear, “I don’t think it’d be wise of you to lash out at random strangers.”</p><p>Edelgard turned her glare on him. “But they-!” She began in a harsh whisper, but Claude shook his head.</p><p>“Don’t lose your cool over this,” he murmured.</p><p>For a moment, she kept her harsh eyes fixed on him. He set his jaw.</p><p>“Edelgard.”</p><p>Her grip loosened. The lines in her brow faded. Her lips covered her snarl, and her hand fell from her axe. She turned back to face the stunned court, bated breath held in every throat. Her lips pursed together.</p><p>“Where do you wish to work, Ms Galatea?” She said clearly. Ingrid only held her stunned silence for a moment.</p><p>“I could… Be useful as one of your guard,” she answered, “and Dorothea would like to serve as a wizard.”</p><p>For a moment, Edelgard stood in silence. She looked once at Claude, then at Dimitri, loathing flashing in her eyes like sparks.</p><p>“Ferdinand,” she said suddenly, her eyes still on Dimitri, who only looked through the window’s glass. “Take in Ms. Galatea. Train her as one of your guards. Hubert, do the same with Ms. Arnault.”</p><p>Both men nodded, though almost warily, their hands crossing over their chests.</p><p>“If they wish to work here, they may work here,” Edelgard continued. “But watch them closely. They’re still strangers to us.”</p><p>Ingrid sighed with relief, but Dorothea pointed at their companion. “And Dimitri-?”</p><p>“He’s useless to me.”</p><p>Claude moved to stare at her quizzically. Edelgard’s glare returned for only a moment, but she soon took a deep breath, her hands falling to her sides. “My vizier will find him a room,” she said, causing Claude to nearly stumble as she looked back to him, eyes narrow. “He will be watched closely, as well.”</p><p>Understanding the command, Claude nodded slowly. Edelgard only watched him, then again narrowed her eyes at Dimitri’s back.</p><p>“For tonight, you may all rest, though you will be heavily guarded,” added Edelgard, speaking to the court once more. “Is that suitable?”</p><p>Ingrid and Dorothea nodded, their hands finding each other and clasping for the briefest of moments, only to separate as if shocked by the touch.</p><p>“That’s… Very generous of you, your Highness,” Ingrid stuttered with a small curtsey. “You won’t regret this.”</p><p>Edelgard’s lip twitched.</p><p>“I hope not,” she muttered, almost inaudibly as she walked forward, back to her throne. Claude didn’t follow.</p><p>He met Dimitri’s eye, looked to the hand covering his odd scar. Without thinking, he reached to his belt, untying a small cloth wrapped there.</p><p>“... Here,” he said softly, reaching upwards. Dimitri stood taller than him, but he removed his hand as Claude wrapped the cloth around his face, tying it behind his head. His hair felt soft.</p><p>“How’s that?” Asked Claude when he took his hands back, watching for Dimitri’s reaction. The other man simply gave him a silent stare, but Claude smiled softly.</p><p>“It’ll work as an eyepatch for now,” he said, motioning to the green cloth wrapped around Dimitri’s head, gold tassels hanging from it. “It’s not really your color, so I’ll get you a better one soon.”</p><p>Dimitri only watched him. The silence began to stretch between them, so much so that Claude struggled to keep his smile.</p><p>“How about… I show you to your room?” He said slowly. Dimitri only nodded, and Claude kept his sigh on the inside.</p><p>“You must be the strong, silent type, huh?”</p><p>Dimitri’s brow furrowed slightly, an almost confused look in his single eye. Claude released his sigh.</p><p>“Just… Never mind,” he shook his head. “Let’s get you to your room. And to some actual clothes.” He turned, beginning to walk, listening as Dimitri followed him.</p><p>The sound of his bare feet on the floor was the most noise he had made all evening.</p>
<hr/><p>“Well, here we are.”</p><p>Dimitri stopped as Claude did, at the end of a long hallway, right outside a set of crimson doors. With an exaggerated bow, Claude held one open.</p><p>“Your room, sir,” he said.</p><p>Dimitri gave him an odd glance, but stepped inside anyway, still clutching Dorothea’s coat around his shoulders. Claude’s lip twitched.</p><p>“If you’re going to keep living down the hall from me, we’re going to need to work on your sense of humor,” me mumbled under his breath, mostly to himself as Dimitri stopped in the middle of the room. Ornately-patterned rugs had been spread out over the stone floor, red curtains wrapped around the large bed, and two glass doors on the room’s opposite wall opened to a modest balcony.</p><p>“You should have everything you’ll need here,” Claude said, stepping behind him. “There’s a vanity, bells for servants, and a fresh towel and bucket of water every morning if you ever want to freshen up.”</p><p>Dimitri’s single eye traced around the room, unreadable as ever. Claude frowned only slightly.</p><p>“Would you like me, or someone, to bring you bedclothes?” He asked. “We should have some that could fit.”</p><p>Dimitri’s eye suddenly caught Claude’s. Claude stopped, as silent as the other man, frozen under a blue, icy stare. Even his heart seemed to pause, his lungs holding air captive.</p><p>Finally, Dimitri nodded, and the spell broke. Claude breathed out, his heart kicked back into life. His dry mouth opened.</p><p>“Okay,” he murmured, voice suddenly soft, as if warily addressing a full-grown bear. “I’ll see what we can find.”</p><p>Dimitri nodded again, less stiffly, and Claude felt his heartbeats slowly return to a normal pace.</p><p>“And if we can’t find you other clothes that fit, we’ll get some tailored,” he said. “That okay?”</p><p>Dimitri blinked. His grip on the coat loosened slightly. Once more, he nodded, and the hard lines around his eyes recessed somewhat. Claude allowed himself to smile.</p><p>“Great. I’ll have those bedclothes sent up right away,” he said, turning to leave.</p><p>He froze in his tracks when Dimitri grabbed his sleeve.</p><p>Claude turned his head slowly, catching Dimitri’s eye, his smile only remaining out of sheer will.</p><p>“Is… Something wrong?”</p><p>Dimitri released his vice grip on Claude’s sleeve. He then pointed to the other side of his face, to the cloth Claude had wrapped around his head. Claude’s shoulders relaxed a little.</p><p>“You can keep it,” he said.  “These cloths are like medals in my home country. You get ‘em for winning battles.”</p><p>As he put his hand on the door handle, he tapped the left side of his face with the other hand, grinning.</p><p>“You’re still standing, so you won that battle, right?”</p><p>Dimitri stared at him, single eye wide. Claude only winked as he began to close the door behind him.</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>Claude paused. He held the door open, inches from shutting it, but he opened it a little wider as he turned around.</p><p>“... You’re welcome,” he said quietly. Dimitri only turned his back to him and said nothing else. Slowly, Claude pulled the door shut, waiting a few moments before he released the handle with a <em> click </em>.</p><p>For a moment, he just stood. Looking up at the tall doors, he furrowed his brow, and he just stood.</p><p>After what seemed like ages, he started walking. Down the hall, past his room, to where two halls intersected.</p><p>“They’re hiding something.”</p><p>Claude smiled. He gave one small laugh as soon as he turned the corner, shoving his hands in his pockets. Her voice came as no surprise to him.</p><p>“Please. ‘Hiding’ is being generous,” he sighed, turning to her. “Those girls were the worst liars I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen Ferdinand play cards.”</p><p>Edelgard’s sullen face perked up slightly, and she even chuckled once at Claude’s remark.</p><p>But she soon frowned again, her eyes narrowing, a heavy sigh moving her shoulders.</p><p>“They need to stay under close watch,” she said. “Ferdinand’s keeping an eye on Ingrid, and Hubert likely won’t like Dorothea out of his sight, if I know him at all.”</p><p>Claude glanced out a nearby window, at the sun’s final light sinking into the dark sea. His smile dropped, his thoughts drifted away like the waves, gravitating back to a color like icicles, like hydrangea blossoms.</p><p>“But it’s that man I’m most wary of,” Edelgard muttered, casting one more glare in the direction of Dimitri’s door. “There’s something not right about him. Many things.”</p><p>Claude felt his body over to the window, watching the waters, feeling his chest stir in time with the waves.</p><p>“I trust you’ll monitor him for me?”</p><p>Claude’s fingers drummed on the windowsill. Lips taught, he nodded. He heard Edelgard sigh.</p><p>“Good. You have no idea how at ease that makes me feel, Claude.”</p><p>Claude only nodded again. With each wave, the ocean seemed to be reaching ever so slightly further upward, towards the palace.</p><p>Towards him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Ethereal Moon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry it's been so long! I had another project I had to work on, and I've been working overtime a lot. I'm not sure how quick I'll be able to produce chapters because of this. Also I struggled with the pacing on this one, but I'm really proud of how it (eventually) came out! Let me know what you think ^^</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Collapsing backwards onto the cot, Dorothea heaved a sigh. The thin mattress and frame creaked under her.</p><p>“Is Hubert still pushing you?”</p><p>With a wince, Dorothea nodded, though her face loosened when gentle hands placed a cool, damp rag on her forehead.</p><p>“Maybe if you keep working on your sword skills, we can get you transferred to the Guard? Ferdinand’s been pretty nice so far.”</p><p>Dorothea shook her head. She peeled open her eyes, waiting a few seconds for the stone ceiling to come into focus before she spoke.</p><p>“It’s important we’re spread out,” she said quietly. “We can learn more this way.”</p><p>When her companion didn’t respond, Dorothea turned to the bed’s end, where Ingrid sat still, her hands clasping in her lap. She hadn’t yet removed her armor from that day’s training, and her wide eyes set forward. Dorothea knew that look, knew how the gears in her friend’s head turned when she stared into space, overthinking and worrying. She frowned.</p><p>“Ingrid.”</p><p>As if snapped out of a daze, Ingrid whipped around at Dorothea’s voice, startled until crimson nails stroked blonde hair behind her ear.</p><p>“It’ll be fine,” Dorothea murmured, cupping the other side of Ingrid’s face with her hand as she sat up. “We can still do this, okay? Don’t worry.”</p><p>Ingrid watched her, jade eyes large and glittering like the afternoon ocean. Dorothea could feel her heart start to pulse faster, her cheeks growing hotter, her lips dying to lean forward and <em> at least </em> touch her forehead-</p><p>So she took her hands away. She scooted back a little, and tried to ignore the way her hands felt cold when they curled the blanket beneath them. Yet she smiled.</p><p>“We can do this,” she promised again, her eyes still on Ingrid’s. “For Dimitri.”</p><p>That seemed to satisfy her. Finally, Ingrid smiled.</p><p>“For Dimitri,” she repeated, sitting slightly taller, as if her energy had been restored by a few mere words. Dorothea’s own smile remained purely superficial.</p><p>If they fought for Dimitri, they had less to fight for by the day.</p><hr/><p>Claude couldn’t be sure if he felt relieved or disappointed.</p><p>On the one hand, Dimitri hadn’t done anything. He stayed in his room, only opening the door when a servant or Claude brought him food, which he would wordlessly exchange for his last empty plate before locking himself away again.</p><p>On the other hand, he hadn’t done <em> anything</em>.</p><p>“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Claude had muttered with his eyes on the chessboard, “but are you <em> sure </em> watching him is a good use of my time?”</p><p>Not missing a beat, Edelgard nodded while moving her remaining rook.</p><p>“Anyone who shows me that much hatred in my own court isn’t to be trusted,” she murmured. Her lavender eyes looked towards Claude as she added, “Are you not suspicious of him as well?”</p><p>Claude huffed. In one motion, he took out her rook and kicked one leg over the other.</p><p>“Of course I am,” he said, “the guy makes me feel like I’m standing at the edge of a cliff whenever I’m near him.”</p><p>Edelgard frowned as Claude placed her rook with the rest of the pieces he had taken from her.</p><p>“Then you understand why I can’t leave him be,” she said. After a moment, she sighed, putting a hand to her forehead.</p><p>“You’re going to win no matter how I move, aren’t you?”</p><p>Claude grinned. “Well three of your four possible moves will put you in checkmate on my next turn, but the fourth,” he pauses, looking over the board as if deep in concentration, “... That one’ll get you in checkmate two turns from now.”</p><p>Edelgard rolled her eyes. She stood without moving again, pulling her cloak out from under her. “You’re insufferable,” she muttered. Claude leaned back in the chair, his arms crossing behind his head, mentally counting the seconds.</p><p>After he reached four, Edelgard groaned and glared at him.</p><p>“Rematch. Tomorrow evening after dinner,” she snapped. Claude grinned again and winked, clicking his tongue.</p><p>“Wouldn’t miss it.”</p><p>The Emperor rolled her eyes again as she turned on her heel, walking with as much dignity as she possibly could after losing for the forty-sixth time. Claude kept count.</p><p>The rest of the day could have been normal. It stayed that way, for the most part; Dimitri didn’t move from his room, and Claude passed by every now and then, handing him meals.</p><p>Except the screams started that night.</p><p>Claude’s eyes flew open. He sprung up in bed with a jolt, large eyes staring forward, breath held in his lungs. For a moment of silence, he wondered if he’d imagined the sound.</p><p>But the second scream came, and Claude sprang out of bed, tossing blankets aside as his feet hit the cold floor. He threw aside one of his doors and rushed into the hall, heart racing as fast as his legs.</p><p>When the third scream split the night, Claude stumbled to a halt. His chest rose and fell with heavy breath, his mouth hung open as his eyes fell on Dimitri’s door, the echo of that harsh cry fading into the crisp air. Horror filled him like rainwater pooling in a gutter.</p><p>For a split second, he could hear his own heartbeat. For a split second, Claude didn’t dare move. For a split second, everything stayed eerily, silently still.</p><p>Then Dimitri’s doors burst open. Claude jumped back, staring as Dimitri stumbled out into the hall, wearing blue bedclothes, heaving with breath. Despite the winter chill, sweat covered his body and caused his hair to stick to his forehead, while his entire body trembled.</p><p>Mouth dry, Claude whispered, “Dimitri?”</p><p>Dimitri’s wild blue eye snapped to fix on Claude. In that split second, Claude knew what it felt like to be a wounded deer staring back at a lion.</p><p>He charged forward without warning, teeth gritted, arm outstretched. Claude gasped as one of his large hands wrapped around his neck and slammed him into the wall.</p><p>“<em>Who are you</em>?!” Dimitri hissed, pressed against Claude, who grabbed Dimitri’s wrist while struggling for air.</p><p>“Dimitri, it’s me!” He rasped, breath knocked from his lungs. “It’s Claude!”</p><p>Dimitri didn’t move, panting like a beast. Dark spots danced across Claude’s vision as he struggled to push him off, slamming his heel into Dimitri’s foot, but he didn’t seem to notice. Gasping for air, Claude tried and failed to croak out Dimitri’s name one more time.</p><p>Suddenly, like striking a match, something clicked.</p><p>Blinking, as if to clear the fog from his eye, Dimitri’s scowl began to fall as his grip loosened.</p><p>“... Claude?” He repeated, trying to remember the word.</p><p>Suddenly his eye opened wide. He jumped back, and Claude crumpled to the floor, coughing. He rubbed his neck and grimaced.</p><p>“Claude?” Dimitri stammered again, hurriedly kneeling next to him. When he put his hand on Claude’s shoulder, he could feel his fingers shake. “You’re okay, right? Claude?”</p><p>Claude heaved a few more times, willing his heartbeat to slow, his lungs to stop burning.</p><p>“Yeah,” he said through the pain. He winced a little. “I’ve been choked harder.”</p><p>Dimitri watched him, his hand staying on Claude’s shoulder, unfamiliar worry pooling in his ice-like eye.</p><p>“You’re not angry? Or afraid?” He asked. Claude sat up slowly, leaning against the wall, still struggling to take deep breaths.</p><p>“Nah,” he lied, “You were just… Having a bad dream, right?”</p><p>Dimitri said nothing for a second, looking down. But he then nodded, lips pursed together, rising from the floor.</p><p>“... I think so,” he whispered, barely audible.</p><p>He offered Claude his hand, which he took, standing with Dimitri’s help. But Claude watched him closely every second of the way, eyes darting between his face and his hands, muscles tense, ready to run if he showed any sign of snapping again. His smile stayed, though just barely, a plaster mask that would crumble if touched.</p><p>He tried to keep his breathing steady. Every vein, every instinct in his body told him to run, to get away from this apparent madman as quickly as he could. But his stomach tied itself in knots at the mere thought.</p><p>So for a minute, they stood there, saying nothing. Dimitri occasionally met Claude’s gaze, but more often looked away. Finally, Claude cleared his throat.</p><p>“Well,” he started, passing a glance down the hall, “I… wanted to check up on you. Make sure you were okay after those screams.”</p><p>Lips pursed tight, Dimitri merely nodded.</p><p>Ignoring the feelings in his gut, ignoring the way Dimitri’s eye seemed to plead with him to stay, Claude turned on his heel.</p><p>“If you’re fine, then-“</p><p>“Wait.”</p><p>A hand grabbed Claude’s again, gripping for a second, then loosening until their fingers barely brushed. His stomach’s knot tightened.</p><p>“Please,” Dimitri whispered, and Claude turned to face him.</p><p>It caught him off-guard, seeing a man that had been at his throat just seconds ago, now watching him with gray lines under his tired, fragile eye. He gulped, swallowing nothing as he said softly,</p><p>“Don’t leave me alone.”</p><p>Broken.</p><p>He looked, sounded, <em> felt </em> broken. Something had shattered him without care for where the pieces fell.</p><p>In that moment, in that small, inexplicable moment, Claude wanted nothing more than to glue them all back together again.</p><p>“I won’t,” he whispered. His hand reached out, tightening around Dimitri’s own. “I promise.”</p><p>Claude couldn’t be sure why he started moving towards his room, but Dimitri followed without question. Claude questioned it every step of the way.</p><p>Their rooms had similar layouts: a bed to one side, a vanity and wardrobe to the other. But Claude’s room had been decorated with other furnishings, like the hanging candles, the curtains surrounding his bed, the table and chair both piled with books and maps and empty inkwells.</p><p>“You can sleep in my bed, if you want,” said Claude as he led Dimitri inside.</p><p>Dimitri looked around the room with a wide eye, lips slightly parted, as if breathing in every color.</p><p>“Your room is… Different,” he mused, his sight traveling to the ceiling for a moment. Claude nodded.</p><p>“Edelgard said she wanted it to feel like home.”</p><p>He followed Dimitri’s gaze, eyes traveling across the expansive painting stretching across the ceiling like a tapestry, adjourned with soaring wyverns, leaping stags, and dancing unicorns.</p><p>“She even had that done for me. Said I should be able to look up and see wyverns,” murmured Claude.</p><p>He only noticed Dimitri moving when their fingers started to slip apart.</p><p>Claude snapped his gaze back down to him, hurriedly trailing behind as Dimitri moved towards a modest bookcase. His hand felt cold or the mere seconds they were apart.</p><p>“You can read any of them, if you want,” Claude said, pointing towards the books.</p><p>Dimitri looked over at him, and Claude caught something strange in his eye for a split second. Thankfulness? Fondness? Comfort? No, surely that brief look meant nothing, only a small admiration, such as one might give if they saw something nice on a walk.</p><p>It scared Claude that he enjoyed even that.</p><p>“Which one’s your favorite?” Asked Dimitri.</p><p>The knot in Claude’s stomach pulled apart ever so slightly. Though it felt strange to smile, to be excited, he couldn’t help the eager feeling that question gave him.</p><p>“That’s easy,” he said, reaching down to the shelf. Pulling out a small, beige-colored book with a title in purple, he held it up like a parent presenting their child.</p><p>“<em>Moors of Vulpes</em>,” he said proudly, passing it to Dimitri. “This was the book that really got me into battle strategy. I was lucky Edelgard had a copy.”</p><p>Dimitri looked down at the book, at the cover, at the first few pages. He raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“It’s about animals,” he said. Claude nodded with a shrug.</p><p>“Stories about animals can teach you a lot about being human,” he said.</p><p>Dimitri stared at him. His single eye blinked, his long fingers clutched the book. Frowning, Claude murmured, “If you don’t want to read it, you don’t have to-”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>Dimitri gave Claude’s hand a reaffirming squeeze, and Claude nearly jumped when he remembered their fingers were still locked together.</p><p>“I want to. You said it was your favorite, right?” He asked. Claude nodded again, unable to take his eyes from Dimitri’s face, especially when he gave him that strange, baffling look again: a smile, or what may have been merely the ghost of one, passing across his face in the space between seconds.</p><p>“Then it must be good,” he said, voice soft and low. He pulled their hands apart, causing Claude to miss the warmth for a moment.</p><p>“Are you really okay with me staying in your bed?”</p><p>If Dimitri’s smile caused Claude to float, his voice grounded him, tethering him so he wouldn’t get lost in the clouds.</p><p>“Yeah,” Claude said when Dimitri’s voice connected him to gravity once more. With a small nod, Dimitri walked over to Claude’s bed, pushing aside the sheer lavender curtains. Claude stood still for a moment, twinges in his chest.</p><p>“Aren’t you coming?”</p><p>Claude’s eyes snapped upward. Dimitri watched him, tilting his head, holding the blankets aside. Claude’s face immediately flushed with heat.</p><p>“Oh, Dimitri, I meant-!” He started, but he stopped. He closed his mouth. Unable to refuse at the fear of offending him, unable to accept for the sake of his own sanity, Claude felt glued to the floor.</p><p>When he felt as if he could inhale again, Claude took a deep breath.</p><p>“... Yeah,” he said, keeping his voice as even as possible.</p><p>Just stay calm, he told himself, even as he got in bed beside Dimitri. Stay calm, he thought as Dimitri ever-so-gently pulled the covers around him. Stay <em> calm </em> , he repeated to himself like a mantra, even while Dimitri somehow moved <em> closer</em>.</p><p>“Do you want to read with me?” Dimitri asked. “Since it’s your favorite.”</p><p>Claude only managed to nod, and Dimitri moved to hold the book between them.</p><p>Claude could barely pay any attention to the pages. His chest stirred, fluttering at first, but the butterflies inside him started beating their wings against his ribcage when he realized how <em> close </em> they had become. Dimitri practically pressed against him, and in any other situation, with any other person, Claude knew he would have felt deeply uncomfortable.</p><p>Perhaps it was even more disturbing that it felt <em> nice</em>.</p><p>Without his permission, Claude’s eyes traveled from their book, up Dimitri’s torso and neck to his face. He had never been this close before, never able to properly notice his narrow, firm jawline, his porcelain skin that shone under the candlelight.</p><p>As Claude’s gaze drifted down to Dimitri’s lips - thin but pink, the bottom one sticking out slightly in concentration - the butterflies beat against his chest as if trying to burst out. His hand tightened at his side as his mind wandered, wandered even closer to Dimitri, wandered to his lips, wandered to the thought of how those lips would feel against his own-</p><p>Claude smothered them. He killed the intrusive thoughts without mercy, burying them, ripping wings from his butterflies and pushing them into the dirt. There was no place for them.</p><p>Claude sat perfectly still throughout all this. Dimitri - unknowing Dimitri, not aware of the heart that Claude hid under his sleeve - simply turned pages, eye fixed on the book as if it were a bible. He had already read two chapters.</p><p>A sigh waiting in his lungs, at the back of his lips, Claude sealed his mouth shut. No, not Dimitri. Not the man Edelgard told him to watch cautiously, not the man that had screamed into the night, not the man that had lashed out and completely forgotten Claude after a single nightmare.</p><p>Claude’s fingers uncurled. He took a deep breath. He scolded himself for wandering dangerously close to the edge, where he’d certainly fall headfirst. He did the right thing by snuffing out the first lustful thoughts and not letting them travel further.</p><p>Maybe he missed them, though.</p><p>As the night stretched deeper, as the candles went out one by one, melting into pools of wax, Dimitri’s warmth drew Claude in like a siren’s lullaby. He fought it, certainly. He fought sleep just as he fought the growing urge to curl up against him and accept his fate.</p><p>But even Claude couldn’t fight forever. His eyelids felt heavy, his head rolled forward. His consciousness slipped in and out of darkness, like ocean waves pulling sand from the shore.</p><p>Something touched his head - fingers? A hand? - and Claude moved closer to its warmth.</p><p>“Claude?”</p><p>He hummed in response, blinking, struggling to stay awake. The hand stroked his hair once.</p><p>“You can rest on my shoulder,” the gentle voice added. Claude nodded, neck weak, leaning towards that voice, into that hand, against Dimitri, whose shoulder moved when he gave a soft sigh.</p><p>“Goodnight, Claude,” he murmured. “... Thank you.”</p><p>The last candle blew out, leaving the room in darkness aside from the winter moon’s silvery light.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Guardian Moon (Part 1)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Oop, it's been a while. I'm so sorry about that, and I hope this chapter makes up for it. Hey, at least it's the first chapter where you get to see some action ^^</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It smelled familiar. She hadn’t smelled it in so long, or so strongly, but she knew it. She recognized it. It washed over her as soon as she entered the courtyard, causing her to seize in place.</p><p>“Galatea!”</p><p>Ferdinand’s sharp, startled voice cut through the overpowering stench, breaking Ingrid out of her stupor. She nearly jumped when he ran up to her, grabbing her shoulder as if trying to turn her back around.</p><p>“Y-your watch isn’t for another half an hour,” he stammered. She stiffened at the sight of him, bags under his wide eyes, panic in his voice, a tremor in his ever-steady hand.</p><p>She could still smell it.</p><p>“Commander, what-!” She began, but Ferdinand quickly shook his head.</p><p>“Get back inside the barracks,” he said as if he were trying to sound firm, but his quivering hand betrayed him. Taking a deep breath, Ingrid set her jaw.</p><p>“Commander,” she said, slowly, steadily, though fear crept its way up her back and threatened to wrap around her throat.</p><p>“Who died?”</p><p>Ferdinand froze. His grip tightened on Ingrid’s shoulder, gloved fingers curling on her armor. She didn’t take her eyes off him. She took a deep breath, then repeated herself.</p><p>“Who died?” She asked again.</p><p>As if regaining feeling in his muscles, Ferdinand’s hand twitched.</p><p>“I…” He began, voice hoarse, a dry throat rasping words through drier lips. He watched her eyes, examining them, like searching for something steady in the midst of an earthquake.</p><p>“... Stephen. Sergeant Stephen,” he finally murmured, defeat in his voice. His shoulders sagged under unbearable weight.</p><p>Ingrid didn’t waver. “May I not see him?” She asked quietly, solemnly. Ferdinand’s frown grew deeper.</p><p>“You will… Regret doing so,” he said, as if every word stung his mouth. Ingrid stood a little taller.</p><p>“Sir, I’ve seen my fair share of death,” she assured him. “I can handle it.”</p><p>It only took one look, one broken, stony look from Ferdinand, to make her doubt her words.</p><p>But He stepped aside. His gaze fell to the ground, as if it could be more comforting than the gray sky, the chilled breeze in the winter air.</p><p>Choosing to ignore his every warning, Ingrid stepped around him stared out onto the courtyard. Morning mist still hovered over some of the grounds, but it couldn’t hide the trampled grass, the bloodstained cobblestones. It couldn’t hide the body beneath the ramparts.</p><p>Or what was left of it.</p><p>Ingrid’s entire body suddenly recoiled. She could feel her stomach lurch, could taste the bile rising up her throat in pure revulsion.</p><p>When Ferdinand’s hand fell on her shoulder again, she nearly jumped, whipping around to him in fright. Ferdinand only looked on.</p><p>“It’s been years since we’ve seen an attack like this,” he sighed while other soldiers covered the remains with a white sheet. “The Beast has grown restless.”</p><p>Despite her panic, despite her horror, Ingrid still caught his words out of the air like a moth in a spider’s web.</p><p>“The Beast?” She repeated.</p><p>Somewhere deep inside her, her conscience argued against what she was about to do. Someone just died, it insisted. Be respectful.</p><p>But she couldn’t lose this chance. She couldn’t lose this <em> lead</em>, the first one in over a month.</p><p>Ferdinand nodded, lips taught, eyes almost watery. Ingrid’s stomach twisted again; she couldn’t take advantage of a man in mourning.</p><p>Unless, she told herself, willing her doubts silent, it was for the right reasons.</p><p>Unless it was for Dimitri.</p><p>“I… I’ve only heard stories about it,” she breathed, staring out at the scene in very real fear. “I didn’t know it was real.”</p><p>Humorlessly, Ferdinand chuckled.</p><p>“Any soldier from the last war could tell you how real it is,” he muttered. He turned to her again, eyes solemn as he looked down at her. “What do you know of the Beast?”</p><p>Ingrid’s heart pounded in her chest. She wouldn’t have to lie, per se. But only half of what she knew would suffice.</p><p>“I’ve heard that the Demonic Beast is the von Hresvelg family’s secret weapon,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “That the Emperor can command it both in battle and as an assassin.”</p><p>Ferdinand nodded again, eyes traveling back to the body, to the blood surrounding its sheet. “But when the Emperor has given the Beast a target, and it fails to find it, it gets... Restless.”</p><p>Terror began digging into Ingrid’s skin like ice. She felt her breath grow short, and she gripped her hands together to keep them from shaking.</p><p>“So it… Killed Stephen,” she whispered. “Because it was frustrated.”</p><p>Ferdinand’s face turned grave once more. His chest rose and fell with a short, stiff breath.</p><p>“Yes,” he said. “Lady Edelgard has chosen its victim. It’s our duty to make sure that victim doesn’t retaliate.”</p><p>Fighting the urge to wrap her arms around herself like a frightened child, Ingrid watched as Ferdinand straightened his shoulders, picked his head up, and stepped forward.</p><p>“Men,” he barked in the voice of a commander, “we’re doubling the guard. Every shift will have twice as many soldiers.”</p><p>Even with the body covered, Ingrid could still see it as if she stood right in front of it, crimson red burning into her memory. A stripped leg, half a torso, broken bones piercing through bloodied, mangled flesh; even if she lived for a century, she’d never forget that sight.</p><p>Breath gradually returned to her lungs. Her hands, her limbs regained their strength. She straightened her back, hardened her stare, felt the armor covering her body, grounding herself amidst thin air and the far-off smell of snow.</p><p>She watched as warm air left her mouth in small clouds. She wouldn’t falter. She <em> couldn’t</em>, not when so much depended on her remaining steady. When <em> they </em> depended on her.</p><p>For Dorothea and Dimitri, Ingrid would charge any Beast head-on.</p><p>“I’ll take the first watch,” she said, walking forwards towards the group, trying not to imagine what would happen if the Beast found either of her friends.</p><p>As long as she breathed, Ingrid wouldn’t allow that.</p><hr/><p>Claude both hated and loved the way Dimitri made him feel.</p><p>Like a star-crossed teenager, his stomach twisted in knots as he curled up in bed. He stared at the wall, focused on it, tried to think about anything but the questions kicking through his mind, stirring and scattering everything.</p><p>They had been spending so much time together - too much? - over the past moon. Sometimes Dimitri would go back to his room, sometimes he’d stay in Claude’s bed. Sometimes they’d read, sometimes they’d just sit. Talk. Dimitri wouldn’t say much, but he listened. Nodded. Something in his eye told Claude he understood.</p><p>But Claude couldn’t remember what they talked about. Their words, their conversations felt empty, hollow smiles and small talk devoid of substance, as if they continued to dance around any topic that actually mattered.</p><p>Claude wondered if he was fine with that.</p><p>He didn’t want to confront anything important, didn’t want to think about anything of consequence. He didn’t want to press Dimitri about purpose in the castle, or the way he felt or, Goddess forbid, the way <em> Claude </em>felt. Any excuse to avoid that confrontation was a good one.</p><p>And yet, the thoughts still came. The questions Claude asked himself, the flips his heart performed, the way heat flooded his face when Dimitri flashed a rare smile, they all came. He could do nothing to stop them. He had tried.</p><p>Still it had worsened. Claude couldn’t push last night from his mind, couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened when Dimitri didn’t come to Claude’s room.</p><p>The knot in his stomach tightened as the recent memory drenched him like waves over rocks.</p><p>“Dimitri?”<br/><br/>He didn’t turn around when Claude spoke. Staring forward, sitting on the edge of his bed with a blanket around his shoulders, Dimitri only looked out the open balcony doors. Claude shivered as he walked in.</p><p>“Dimitri, it’s winter,” he sighed, walking past him to the balcony. “At least close the doors, okay?”</p><p>Again, he stayed quiet. His eye didn’t move, didn’t follow Claude as he stepped around the bed to the doors, closing them, mumbling, “Do <em> normal </em> northerners just sit in the cold for fun?”</p><p>“Claude.”</p><p>He paused. Turning, watching Dimitri’s slightly parted lips, watching the way he stared forward as if living a lucid dream, Claude frowned.</p><p>“I’m here,” he whispered, words he had said so many times now, words he jumped to whenever Dimitri regressed to that state. Whenever he started to lose himself.</p><p>Dimitri looked up at him, ragged hair hanging around his face. His ice blue eye seemed to glow in the moonlight.</p><p>“What am I doing here?”</p><p>Like an arrow flying past his ear, his quiet question caught Claude off-guard. His fingers tensed around the doorknob he still clutched, his throat went dry, his eyes searched Dimitri’s face for a right answer.</p><p>He found nothing.</p><p>Claude’s fingers slipped off the door. Sighing as if defeated, he answered, “I don’t know.”</p><p>Dimitri’s faraway look began to settle. He closed his lips tight, blinked, his bunched shoulders settling slightly.</p><p>“Right… You don’t know either,” he muttered, turning his sight to the floor. “I had forgotten that, too.”</p><p>Claude didn’t move for a moment. The melancholy, the loneliness in the air seemed to settle on his skin like thick fog. He wanted nothing more than to reach through that fog and pull Dimitri out of it.</p><p>“Do you keep forgetting things?” He said softly.</p><p>The sudden, humorless chuckle that Dimitri gave hurt more than anything he had ever said in anger.</p><p>“Is that some kind of joke?”</p><p>Claude stiffened. Dimitri shook his head, golden hair shifting around his face, sad smile falling.</p><p>“I couldn’t even tell you all I’ve forgotten,” he says in a voice like shattered glass, sharp and broken, cutting Claude’s palms and opening old wounds. He curled up tighter, suddenly beginning to gasp for air as if choked, “Every day I’m here, I’m losing something. But I don’t even know how much I’ve lost, but I know it’s <em> gone </em> and there’s something I <em> need</em>-!”</p><p>Claude said nothing. He couldn’t. He rarely talked to Dimitri when his fits overtook him, only moved close, only put his hand on his back, and rubbed circles. Little else would help.</p><p>He waited as Dimitri’s breath slowed. The gasping, the shaking stopped. His eye focused. Claude’s hand paused, but started again after a moment, moving to sit next to him.</p><p>“I’m here,” he said again. It felt almost like those words belonged to them, as if they meant far more than they normally would upon Claude’s lips.</p><p>Dimitri shifted. He looked up again, staring outside for just a moment before looking to Claude. He seemed to try to take a deep breath, but it came out in stutters, and Claude could feel his back shake.</p><p>“I don’t even remember what home looks like, Claude,” he whispered.</p><p>His eye looked the most broken Claude had ever seen it. His heart dropped. Make him feel better, his head insisted. Say anything to wipe the sorrow from his face.</p><p>So he didn’t think, and he spoke.</p><p>“Me neither.”</p><p>The look in Dimitri’s eye changed slightly. His brows knitted together, his mouth parted a little as if a question began preparing itself on his tongue.</p><p>“This... Isn’t your home?” He asked slowly.</p><p>Claude resisted the pressing urge to stop himself. He shouldn’t say any more, shouldn’t let Dimitri or <em> anyone </em> know.</p><p>“Wasn’t always,” he said. This was what Dimitri needed, he shouted back at the most anxious voices in his head. He needed empathy, to be shown he wasn’t alone, that someone else knew that exact heartache.</p><p>So he pushed his doubts aside, and smiled.</p><p>“You know about Almyra, right?”</p><p>Dimitri watched him, the tension in his body falling.</p><p>“Only in passing,” he said.</p><p>Claude kept smiling, and against every instinct in his body, kept talking.</p><p>“That’s… Where I’m from,” he murmured.</p><p>When Claude paused, Dimitri reached one hand out from under his blanket, pushing his fingers towards Claude’s. They wrapped together in a heartbeat.</p><p>“But you left.”</p><p>Claude nodded. He tried to breathe evenly, to stay smiling.</p><p>“And I haven’t gone back,” he said.</p><p>Dimitri looked down at their hands.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>When Claude didn’t speak for a moment, Dimitri squeezed his hand, gentle and firm. Claude’s voice threatened to tremble.</p><p>“Because I ran,” he admitted. “I… I’m their prince.”</p><p>Dimitri’s eye widened slightly. But he said nothing, patiently waiting for Claude to speak, who took a deep breath.</p><p>“My father wanted to make me king,” he continued, voice slow and hushed. “But… I didn’t want that. I wasn’t ready.”</p><p>Dimitri stroked his thumb over the back of Claude’s hand.</p><p>“So he let you leave?”</p><p>Claude nodded. He could feel the pain now, scars ripping, holes in his chest growing larger the more he thought about them.</p><p>“He didn’t want to force me,” he said. “I was friends with Edel- the Emperor already. I left to live with her, to experience somewhere different.”</p><p>The pain spread from his chest to his stomach, down his legs and arms.</p><p>“And you haven’t gone back.”</p><p>He shook his head. It was getting harder to breathe.</p><p>“I abandoned them,” he admitted. “My family, and my entire country. I cut all ties to them and became the perfect servant to the Empire. I left my home and even my name behind.”</p><p>He looked down at his lap. Waves washed over him, crashed into him, memories he had tried so hard to forget.</p><p>“I can’t go back. Not after running from my duty like a coward.”</p><p>Dimitri said nothing. His hand sat still, his body moved only to breathe. When he eventually spoke, his words came in barely a whisper.</p><p>“What’s your true name, Claude?”</p><p>He spoke so plainly. He didn’t offer empty words, promising Claude that he hadn’t done anything wrong, or try and console him with lies. He only asked a simple question, the answer to which Claude hadn’t spoken of in years.</p><p>Despite everything, it chased a few of the demons away.</p><p>“Khalid,” he said out loud, looking up at Dimitri, meeting his gentle, curious, stunningly blue eye. The word tasted unfamiliar, so he said it again. “My real name’s Khalid.”</p><p>Dimitri simply blinked. His hand gripped Claude’s again, and watching him, feeling his touch, Claude’s scars began to sew shut once more.</p><p>“But that’ll just be our pretty little secret, okay?” He forced the smile back on, putting a finger to his lips, brushing off everything like always.</p><p>“Khalid.”</p><p>He froze upon hearing his name. His <em> real </em> name, spoken on lips he stared at when their owner wasn’t looking, with a voice as soft as starlight.</p><p>“I’m honored,” Dimitri continued, “that you trust me so much.”</p><p>Claude blinked. Trust? Had he done that? Trusting a man he barely knew anything about, who showed up out of nowhere, who Edelgard despised? Did Claude truly trust him?</p><p>He only had to think back on the past few minutes to know the answer.</p><p>Claude sighed. He smiled, genuine now, looking into Dimitri’s eye as if watching a sunrise.</p><p>“What are you doing to me, Dimitri?” He whispered. Dimitri frowned slightly.</p><p>“I’m doing something to you?”</p><p>Claude chuckled, the pain slipping away under Dimitri’s warm light.</p><p>“Goddess, yes,” he breathed.</p><p>Dimitri tilted his head. He reached out, his other hand moving towards Claude’s face, fingers brushing his skin. When he didn’t pull away, Dimitri cupped his cheek gently.</p><p>“Am I doing something good, or something bad?” He asked. Claude shrugged, shaking his head with what must’ve been the oddest grin.</p><p>“I don’t know,” he admitted.</p><p>They sat there for a moment, a minute, a lifetime, watching each other’s eyes, feeling warmth wherever they touched. Claude raised his own hand to hold Dimitri’s to his face, which caused tints of red to light up his pale cheeks.</p><p>“Claude- K-khalid, can I-?” He burst out, but stopped. Claude kept their eyes locked.</p><p>“... Go on,” he whispered.</p><p>Dimitri opened his mouth, but closed it. Took a breath, but let it out. Leaned forward, then leaned back. He sighed.</p><p>“Can I please kiss you?” He murmured.</p><p>Claude’s heart thrummed against his ribs. Yet he nodded, already closing the gap between them, letting his eyelids fall, silent until their lips stood a hair’s breadth away, when he finally spoke,</p><p>“... Yes.”</p><p>Their first kiss lasted only a few, brief moments. Their lips connected, soft and firm and sweet and delicate, before Claude pulled back. Through hooded eyes, he watched Dimitri for his next move, for what <em> he </em> wanted.</p><p>Dimitri’s hand moved to grip Claude’s hair as he dove back in.</p><p>Their mouths collided like a thunderclap. Lips moving against each other, passion surfacing, teeth biting. Eyes squeezed shut and sloppy wet tongues.</p><p>Claude’s core stirred. His heart pumped, blood rushing to his head, to his-!</p><p>Dimitri pulled away with a <em> smack</em>. He panted, staring at Claude, wide eyes and swollen, pink lips. And he smiled.</p><p>“Thank you,” he said. “For helping me.”</p><p>Claude could only nod. Adrenaline still coursed through his veins, thoughts and ideas and formerly unknown desires all swirling together inside his head.</p><p>Left untouched, his cock twitched.</p><p>Now, today, the memory of their kiss made Claude hard once again. He wrestled with the thought, with himself, with the feelings compressing his chest like a horse standing on his ribs.</p><p>Although, maybe now he could label those feelings, he thought as he stared at nothing. Maybe, after all this time, every pull towards Dimitri could merely be chalked up to lust. It would certainly make sense, given the attraction Claude already had to what little he had seen of his body. Could he truly blame it all, wanting to be close to him, to know more about him, to comfort him, on selfish desire?</p><p>Claude’s cock twitched again, and he groaned. He <em> ached</em>. He turned over in bed, only seeing one thing when he closed his eyes. One man, standing over him, blue eye ignited with want. Squeezing his own eyes shut, Claude focused on that sight, that daydream. If it all was truly only lust, then that could be proven.</p><p>It could be taken care of.</p><p>Claude breathed a sigh. His core burned, but his hand reaching down, palming his cock through his pants, eased the pain somewhat.</p><p>He let out a soft grunt. While undoing the lace on his pants with one hand, Claude reached over to the small bedside table, to the drawer there. He frowned as he rummaged through it, as he struggled to free himself.</p><p>Finally, he found what he was looking for. The small vial of scented oils fit snugly in his hand, and with the other, he pulled the final string.</p><p>He gasped when the cold air hit him, hard and exposed. But he kept touching, stroking gently with just his fingertips, biting his lip at the teasing sensation. Laying back in bed, Claude readied the vial.</p><p>It still didn’t feel right. He frowned, taking his fingers off his cock, leaving it flushed and burning. No, Dimitri wouldn’t take him in this way. If Claude truly wanted to picture Dimitri, to imagine his touch, the warmth of his body pressed against his, the sensation of making love to each other, it needed to be different.</p><p>Claude let out a small moan at the very thought. He turned on his side, pulled his pants completely off with his hand before hurriedly, almost hungrily popping the cork from the vial. Letting the slick oil run onto his hand, he rubbed it between his fingers.</p><p>His chest felt ready to burst. As if Dimitri had poured lubricant onto his own hands, Claude’s entire body shuddered in anticipation of what would come next. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pictured him.</p><p>Although he had never seen Dimitri without clothes before, Claude had a little to go off of. Sheer shirts that nearly exposed his chest; long, v-shaped necklines that teased scant glances of skin; black pants, snug exactly where they needed to be.</p><p>His arm behind himself, Claude’s wet fingers teased at his entrance. His imaginary Dimitri sat over him and cooed.</p><p>“<em>Are you ready, Khalid?</em>”</p><p>Claude nodded, body tense, forcing himself to take deep breaths. Dimitri nodded.</p><p>“<em>Good.</em>”</p><p>Claude bit back a gasp as the first finger slipped in. Stopping, arm held tense, he waited for the sensation to settle.</p><p>“<em>Should I stop? Is this too much?</em>”</p><p>Claude shook his head, rubbing his hair into the pillow.</p><p>“No,” he whispered, breathless. “K-keep going.”</p><p>Another finger followed the first, causing Claude to clench around them, a moan stifled in the back of his throat. They started thrusting, slowly, in and out, reaching deeper every time, mere centimetres away from where he was most sensitive.</p><p>“<em>Can you take it?</em>”</p><p>A third finger inched closer to his hole, playing with the rim. Claude keened and began shifting his position.</p><p>“<em>Can you take my cock?</em>”</p><p>Claude finally released his moan, loud and needy.</p><p>“Yes,” he gasped. “Yes, please, Dimitri, put it inside me, <em> please</em>,” he begged as he moved to his knees, his ass in the air. Dimitri’s low voice chuckled.</p><p>“<em>As you wish</em>.”</p><p>The third came in. The thrusts sped up, reaching closer as Claude’s entire body began to move with them.</p><p>With a deep push inside, Claude released another sinful moan as his fingers reached his prostate.</p><p>“Ngh-ah! Yes, Dimitri, there! Right there!”</p><p>His mewls rose in pitch as he approached his edge. He could hear Dimitri’s hot breath in his ear, could feel his cock pushing into the cluster of nerves that had his head reeling.</p><p>“<em>Are you going to cum for me, Khalid?</em>”</p><p>Claude nodded, panting.</p><p>“Mm-! Y-eah, I-! I’m gonna cum-!” He gasped. Flashes danced across his closed eyes, heat pooled in his belly.</p><p>His fingers curled, <em> scraped </em> against his prostate. Claude let out a desperate whine.</p><p>“<em>Then cum</em>.”</p><p>Something vaguely resembling Dimitri’s name spilled over Claude’s lips as his orgasm racked his body. White-hot, blinding, overwhelming. Claude cried out in pleasure as warm cum spurted onto his stomach.</p><p>The imaginary Dimitri faded away with Claude’s high. His legs shook, sweat stuck his hair to his forehead, and he panted through his open mouth.</p><p>His head felt blurry, foggy. Wincing as he pulled his fingers out from his hole, Claude sat up, his groggy mind only slowly noticing the light from the open doorway.</p><p>The breath drained from his lungs. He turned, slowly, his heart petrified in his chest. And he stared.</p><p>Dimitri stared right back.</p><p>In the dead silence, Claude could hear the blood rushing past his ears. Mouth dry, empty, he gulped.</p><p>“Dimitri, I-”</p><p>The door slammed closed before he could finish, and Claude wanted to sink through the floor.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>(hey this is my first time publishing smut so i'm super nervous about it so anything you could say as far as advice/encouragement would be great thanks bye)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Guardian Moon (Part 2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the first few hours, Claude only laid there, arm slung over his eyes.</p><p>
  <em> What had he been thinking? </em>
</p><p>Groaning, insides twisting, unfamiliar shame crawling up his skin, he turned over. Blankets and pillows seemed to smother him from all sides. Of <em> course </em> Dimitri would be there. Claude, lust and hormones fogging his mind, forgot the time, forgot his senses, forgot Dimitri visited him at that time every night</p><p>When he finally slept, Claude stared into his eye again; blue, deep, clouded with want as Dimitri sat over Claude.</p><p>“<em>Disgusting</em>,” he muttered, a lilt of sadistic pleasure to his voice, “<em>After all that, you still want me to fuck you?</em>”</p><p>Claude jolted awake in the middle of the night, body covered in sweat, dick hard and sore.</p><p>In the morning, the bags under his eyes faced him in the mirror. His whole body ached, sleep seeming to weigh on him like excess gravity, as if nature itself took sick satisfaction in pulling down both his body and spirit.</p><p>His disheveled reflection stared back at him, his breath creating fading clouds on the glass. Claude rarely felt shame, as bold as he was, unafraid to speak his mind or act out of turn. Heart guiding him, head driving him, he stepped forward without fear of consequence, his sharp tongue quick to come to his defense. Why was this different? Why couldn’t he shrug it off with a laugh and a cocky grin, acting as if his actions didn’t matter at all?</p><p>Claude gritted his teeth. He knew. Despite last night’s attempt to convince himself otherwise, he knew. He couldn’t wave it away, couldn’t wiggle out of the situation like a fox caught in a hunter’s trap. The noose only tightened the longer he struggled.</p><p>Dimitri meant too much to him, too much for Claude to turn around, play it off, pretend like it was no big deal. His lovesick heart wouldn’t allow him to toy with Dimitri’s feelings like that.</p><p>Lovesick.</p><p>The green eyes in the mirror watched him, blinking as he did, closing shut as two pairs of eyes no longer wished to face each other.</p><p>“Are you alright, Claude? You don’t look well.”</p><p>At Edelgard’s gentle words, Claude did as he always did.</p><p>“Just didn’t sleep great,” he assured the Emperor, grinning, brushing away her concern as if it were a speck of dust off his shoulder. “I’m fine. Promise.”</p><p>People that are “fine” don’t usually spend every hour of the day wishing they were back in their room, alone, blocking out all their problems with their eyes squeezed shut.</p><p>“Oh, you’re here.”</p><p>Claude froze at the voice, at the sight. From his bed, lit by the golden light of Claude’s lanterns, Dimitri looked up at him.</p><p>“You’re later than normal. Busy day?” He asked. He appeared completely calm, hunched over the book in his lap, one leg crossed over the other. His eye watched Claude only with curiosity.</p><p>Claude could barely nod. His racing heart beat against his composure, threatening to break it and send it toppling to the floor. <em> Why was he there? </em>He looked nothing like last night, staring at him, one hand on the doorknob, mouth hanging open in shock. Instead, he smiled, offering one gloved hand towards him.</p><p>“Read with me?” He said, voice gentle.</p><p>Had he forgotten it all?</p><p>Like a timid animal, Claude stepped carefully towards Dimitri’s outstretched hand. He didn’t know what to think, what to say, as if his body and mind had no idea how to react to the man before him.</p><p>“Dimitri,” he said slowly, clearing his throat once. “Are you… Alright?”</p><p>Almost too quickly, Dimitri nodded. His smile grew larger.</p><p>“Why wouldn’t I be?” He beamed.</p><p>Claude stopped. He raised an eyebrow, doubts forming in his mind like bubbles in boiling water, his mouth opening to speak.</p><p>Dimitri grabbed his hand suddenly.</p><p>“Claude, please.”</p><p>Desperation crept into his voice, hid at the edge of his smile, flickered in the corner of his eye. Chest heaving with a deep sigh, his gloved hand gripped Claude’s in a plea louder than his words.</p><p>“Let’s just focus on tonight,” he murmured.</p><p>Everything he didn’t say rang as loud as bells in Claude’s head.</p><p>So he nodded. He forced his own smile, shrugged off his coat, and laid it beside them at the bed’s end.</p><p>“Okay,” he said, hoping Dimitri understood every meaning behind his single word. He sat down beside him, leaning back against the headboard, eyes trailing over the pages of their book.</p><p>He couldn’t focus on it at all.</p><p>At one point, eye staring forward, Dimitri asked him to read out loud. Claude barely heard his own voice, only felt Dimitri’s thigh against his as they sat beside each other, only saw his tense shoulders rising and falling with quick breaths, only felt his frantic heart still pounding against his chest. They each still smiled, grins as fake as ice sculptures, melting with heat and touch. They’d have to talk about it. Claude knew it. But as long as he could, he’d deny it, pretend everything was fine, pretend <em> he </em> was fine, pretend the tension between them didn’t exist at all, pretend he could just sit there and read his book and bite his tongue and look away and not face anything-!</p><p>The second Dimitri grabbed Claude’s shoulders, he felt himself slamming backwards into the mattress. And everything burst, like a bubble finally popping after what felt like hours, causing Claude to release a small sigh despite his position.</p><p>Despite Dimitri staring down at him with enough hunger in his eye to rival a starved wolf.</p><p>“Claude,” he whispered, breathless. Claude nodded.</p><p>“Dimitri,” he said, a mutual understanding passing between their words, like soft, breathless introductions. Dimitri opened and closed his dry lips.</p><p>“... We can’t just pretend last night didn’t happen.”</p><p>Claude nodded. Red crept onto his cheeks again, but he fought the urge to turn away.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he said. “I used you.”</p><p>Dimitri fell silent. His lips closed, eye closing. After a moment of silence, he shook his head once.</p><p>“As did I.”</p><p>Claude stared. Like before, his own confusion almost rose to his lips, but Dimitri spoke again with a sigh.</p><p>“I stood there far longer than I should have. I invaded your privacy,” he confessed.</p><p>For a moment, Claude couldn’t breathe. When air finally, shakily, entered his lungs, he spoke softly.</p><p>“How much did you see?”</p><p>Dimitri almost seemed to grimace. He kept his eye squeezed shut, but when Claude reached up to his face, palm slowly settling on his cheek, brushing his golden bangs aside with his fingertips, he loosened only slightly.</p><p>“I watched you touch deep inside yourself,” he whispered. </p><p>Claude’s chest shuddered. Dimitri took a short breath.</p><p>“I watched your face, the way your body moved.”</p><p>Dimitri’s tongue flicked out from between his lips, licking them, creating a small sheen on the cracked surface.</p><p>“I watched you come, crying my name,” he breathed, hands moving now, knees on either side of Claude’s hips. His eye almost seemed to glow with thinly-veiled want.</p><p>He paused as if to suck in breath, chest almost heaving now, shaking, mouth hanging open until he spoke again.</p><p>“<em>I </em> took advantage of <em> you</em>,” he said, almost adamant. Claude’s lips pressed together.</p><p>“If… If that’s true… We’re even then,” he said. With a small swallow, Dimitri nodded.</p><p>“I suppose we are.”</p><p>He didn’t move. His grip loosened, but Dimitri didn’t crawl off of Claude, didn’t let him go. Instead, his eye flickered, tracing down Claude’s body, red beginning to spread across his own pale nose. Claude lowered his hand.</p><p>“Dimitri, if you want-”</p><p>“N-no.”</p><p>Claude’s brows knitted together. Dimitri pulled his hands away, sitting back on his knees, turning his head to the side as if trying to look at anything but Claude.</p><p>“W-we shouldn’t be doing this,” he almost snapped, as if scolding himself rather than Claude. Head wanting to respect his wishes but body practically <em> burning </em> for touch, Claude sighed, sitting up.</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>Dimitri frowned. His hands clenched at his sides. His eye flickered to Claude once, twice, always looking away just as swiftly. His jaw clenched.</p><p>“Because, Claude, I’m not-!”</p><p>And he turned back. He stared right at Claude, right into his eyes, and Claude saw it again. Like a vision or trick of the light, an entire forest seemed to dwell within Dimitri’s eye, crested with the blue, misty light of morning.</p><p>“Not… What?” Claude finally asked, breaking the silence. All of a sudden, Dimitri took a shuddering breath, as if remembering how to breathe.</p><p>Then, he spoke, barely above a whisper, his eye almost glazing over.</p><p>“If I choose to give in,” he wondered, “Will I still be myself?”</p><p>Claude frowned again, opening his mouth to speak. But as he watched, as Dimitri blinked, Claude could have sworn the forest in his eye faded ever so slightly.</p><p>Before he could act, Dimitri’s face moved close to his once more, hands now on either side of his head.</p><p>“I don’t know what to do, Khalid,” he whispered, the low sound of his real name sending shivers down Claude’s spine and straight to his cock.</p><p>Hand now trembling, palm already sweating, he stretched upwards, stroking Dimitri’s hair now, watching the way he leaned into his touch. All reservations, all common sense faded away at the warmth of Dimitri’s body <em> so close </em> to his.</p><p>“Want me to show you?”</p><p>At Dimitri’s small, subtle nod, Claude’s fingers dug into his hair and pulled him down.</p><p>The kiss tasted like passion and burned straight into Claude’s core. He gripped Dimitri’s hair, tugging at it, body shivering when Dimitri’s moan went into his mouth. Eyes fluttering closed, Claude pressed his tongue as deep as it could go, stroking along the roof of Dimitri’s mouth and the back of his teeth. With an almost growl-like moan, Dimitri captured his tongue and began to suck.</p><p>Claude’s back already arched into the kiss. His skin smouldered like embers, waiting for Dimitri to touch him and set him ablaze. </p><p>Their lips parted with a wet <em> pop</em>, a thin strand of saliva still connecting their tongues for a moment as Dimitri leaned back, panting, resting his hips on Claude’s. The pressure to his crotch nearly had him <em> reeling </em> . He could feel Dimitri against him, just as hard, the obscene bulge in his trousers pressing against Claude’s own. He almost bucked his hips, almost began rutting against him, almost begged Dimitri to <em> please </em> touch him already, he felt ready to <em> burst </em>-!</p><p>But Dimitri leaned forward again, hands moving to Claude’s shirt while his lips touched on his neck. He kissed once, twice, nipping gently enough that, if Claude didn’t know any better, he’d say he was <em> teasing </em>him. Meanwhile his large hands pulled apart enough buttons for them to slip beneath his shirt, cold gloves against flushed skin. The black leather brushed over his shoulders, pulling his collar open wider, as his lips trailed up his neck to his ear.</p><p>For a split second, their eyes met. Claude looked straight at Dimitri, red across his face, lips parted, chest moving up and down with heavy breath. But Dimitri turned, lips parting.</p><p>Claude let out his first moan as Dimitri bit onto his earlobe. Then he began sucking, pulling at the soft skin, his tongue playing with Claude’s small emerald earring. Claude’s hips bucked upwards involuntarily.</p><p>He gasped when Dimitri let go, breathing hot into his ear, brushing his nose against the side of his face.</p><p>“You’re already so worked up, Khalid,” he murmured, low voice rumbling through his chest and straight to Claude’s twitching cock, “I’ve barely touched you.”</p><p>Looking up at him, at his sparking blue eye, Claude smirked and scoffed.</p><p>“Says the guy who -  supposedly - doesn’t know what to do,” he chuckled. “You sure you’ve never fucked before?”</p><p>Mixing a snarl and a purr in his throat, Dimitri’s fingers traced down Claude’s jawline, stroking him with a touch as delicate as dove’s feathers.</p><p>“Not like this,” he said before moving his mouth onto Claude’s neck again, biting harder now, tugging at his skin enough to leave a trail of bruises. Claude arched into his touch.</p><p>“We’ll you’re doing <em> amazing</em>,” he moaned, eyes fluttering closed. Dimitri only hummed in response.</p><p>Having undone every button, Dimitri pulled Claude up to slip the robe off his shoulders, letting it fall off the bed and out of sight. His hands and lips now traveled freely, wandering all over his chest as if trying to find the most sensitive spot. Claude’s whimpers grew louder as Dimitri bit into his shoulder, as his hands traced over his pecs, and his fingers grazed his nipple.</p><p>“A-ah!” Claude gasped. Like taking a cue, Dimitri’s forefinger and thumb wrapped tight around the nub, rubbing it between them until Claude <em> writhed </em>.</p><p>“Aah, Dimitri, you’re-! You’re teasing me-!” He sputtered, sucking in breath as, maintaining stoic eye contact, Dimitri lowered his mouth onto Claude’s other nipple.</p><p>Claude threw his head back as a loud, sinful <em> mewl </em> tumbled from his mouth. The sensation nearly overwhelmed him, driving him mad, jolting his cock as it strained against his pants.</p><p>“Dimitri, please-!” He whined. Goddess, he couldn’t go on for much longer. He wanted, needed Dimitri inside him, deep inside him, fucking him until he couldn’t remember his name.</p><p>“Hm?” Dimitri gazed up at him almost innocently, despite his lips closed around Claude’s nipple. He parted them, but his tongue continued to play with the nub, lapping back and forth. The sight silenced Claude’s every thought for just a moment as he drank it in.</p><p>But Dimitri’s fingers tightened around his other nipple, pulling, and Claude’s hopelessly starved dick reminded him what he so desperately needed. It wasn’t fair; there he laid, unraveling, and Dimitri hadn’t taken a single thing off. His lips pursed.</p><p>“T-take your shirt off,” he said. He wanted to say so many other things, wanted Dimitri’s cock so badly, wanted his own clothes off so maybe he could at least touch himself and relieve some of the building pressure.</p><p>But if Dimitri was going to be a tease, Claude would play his game.</p><p>Dimitri smiled, devious and playful, and leaned back again. His hips rocked against Claude’s, grinding a little as Dimitri shifted back and forth, drawing a gasp from Claude’s lips and a surprising, soft moan from Dimitri’s. Watching as he undid his own buttons, Claude stared as Dimitri’s pale chest came into view. Thick muscles lined his torso, round pecks and hard abs, leading down to v-shaped hips and a thin, golden trail of hair.</p><p>When he pulled his gloves off by biting them, slowly dragging them off his fingers, Claude felt the air leave his lungs.</p><p>Then Dimitri’s fingers danced against Claude’s lips. His thumb dragged along the flushed, soft, sensitive skin, fingertips teasing him open. Claude parted his lips without a second thought.</p><p>Dimitri stuck one finger inside, then another. He seemed to pry Claude’s mouth open, exploring the texture of his teeth, his tongue, all while his satisfied, sexy smirk grew on his own lips. His fingers felt warm, and Claude flicked out his tongue to lick their tips.</p><p>Dimitri paused. Mouth still pried open, Claude looked up at him, afraid he had done something wrong as Dimitri drew his hand back.</p><p>But just as soon as he pulled away, Dimitri pushed back in. Three fingers thrust inside Claude’s mouth, and Claude didn’t hesitate to close his lips around them. Eyes fluttering closed, he started sucking. He felt the tips of his teeth, the warm, wet heat of his breath, his tongue rising to lick his fingers. Claude worked in a third, and Dimitri’s lips closed around them, sucking gently. Moving his fingers out, then pressing them back inside, Dimitri chuckled a little at Claude’s hum of pleasure. He did it again, drawing his fingers in and out, slowly at first. Then faster, as Claude sucked and practically <em> purred</em>. Faster, fucking his mouth with his hand. Even faster, Dimitri felt <em> so good</em>-!</p><p>Dimitri snapped his hand away, kissing him again. This time it felt sloppier, more desperate, teeth clacking, lips barely managing to find the right spot, hot breath panting onto each other’s faces. Claude’s arms slung around Dimitri’s shoulders, and he felt Dimitri’s hands move again. One lingered at his face, stroking it, touching his neck and the fresh hickies he had left there. The other followed the curves of his body, cupping him all the way down to his hip.</p><p>The embers in Claude’s belly threatened to ignite, kicked into sparks as Dimitri wedged his knee between Claude’s legs, causing him to cry out into their kiss. He moved his hips against him, rutting, writhing, grateful for the small relief but desperate for more.</p><p>Dimitri’s hand stroked up and down his thigh, electricity crackling wherever he touched. Fingers wedging themselves under the hem of his trousers, he began to pull, gradually freeing Claude’s hips. Claude keened into his touch.</p><p>“Yes... Goddess, <em> please</em>-!”</p><p>He gasped when his cock popped free, laying against his stomach, precum already beading at the tip.</p><p>Dimitri paused. With Claude’s pants halfway off, one of Dimitri’s large hands reached down, stroking the back of his fingers along the underside of Claude’s dick, causing him to moan, hands gripping the sheets.</p><p>“St-stop playing with me!” Claude sputtered, but <em> oh </em>, he loved every minute. Every slow, tortuous minute, building up heat and pressure like a kettle ready to boil over, cock hard and desperate enough to twitch at the slightest touch.</p><p>He hadn’t expected Dimitri’s chuckle, hadn’t expected him to grab his dick, hadn’t expected him to press his thumb against the wet tip. Claude’s body tossed on the bed as his moans became cries.</p><p>“I love the desperation in your voice,” purred Dimitri into Claude’s ear. “You really <em> do </em> want me.”</p><p>Claude nodded, eyes slamming shut, whimpers and mewls and keens stuffed down his throat. Dimitri laughed again.</p><p>“What exactly is it you want, Khalid? Tell me.”</p><p>Dimitri gripped his length, almost <em> squeezing</em>. Claude could barely breathe.</p><p>“T-the… The clove oil,” he stammered, legs shaking, body screaming. “B-bedside table. P-please touch me more.”</p><p>He didn’t look up, only heard the drawer open and close, and after a moment, felt cool, slick fingers moving up and down his cock.</p><p>“Like this?” Dimitri teased. Claude could only nod, but as soon as he did, the touch stopped. He groaned, longing, hungry, <em> needing </em> that touch back, needing it up and down his length, needing it to stroke him until he came, needing to cum-!</p><p>One of those same fingers touched his rim, and Claude keened, back arching.</p><p>“Please, yes, there! P-put it in!” He cried.</p><p>A single finger pressed inside him, then drew out. A second one joined it upon its return, spreading lube, stretching him. Reflexively, Claude rocked his hips back and forth, fucking himself on Dimitri’s fingers, but they pulled away as soon as he did.</p><p>“Not yet,” Dimitri’s teasing, sadistic voice chided, as if scolding a child for eating sweets before dinner. But his own words trembled, his composure finally coming undone.</p><p>Claude’s lip quivered. He watched as Dimitri slowly, tantalizingly undid the laces on his own pants, slipping them off, revealing himself before him.</p><p>And he stared.</p><p>Big, thick, flushed red, his lubed fingers stroking it up and down - Claude wanted it. In his ass, in his mouth, he didn’t care, he <em> wanted </em> it, he wanted it inside him, filling him up with its girth, pressing deeper as Claude took in Dimitri’s entire cock.</p><p>“Khalid.”</p><p>The tone of Dimitri’s voice caught him off-guard. He looked up, catching his eye, catching the faintest hints of hesitation there.</p><p>“... Are you okay?” Asked Dimitri. Claude nodded, and Dimitri took a deep breath. “Are you ready, then?”</p><p>Every muscle in Claude’s body was ready. But he nodded again, slowly, watching Dimitri’s eye. As desperate, as <em> needy </em> as he felt, in that moment, he kept himself calm. He willed himself to slow down, to smile gently, to reassure Dimitri in any way he could.</p><p>“Yes,” he said. Want creeping its way onto his lighthearted words, he growled playfully, “Fuck me, Dimitri.”</p><p>Biting his lip, staring down at him, pulling Claude’s hips upward with one hand and positioning himself with the other, Dimitri spoke breathlessly.</p><p>“If that’s what you want.”</p><p>Claude hissed through his teeth as Dimitri’s tip nudged against his entrance. Slowly, almost agonizingly, he pressed forward, deeper, forcing Claude to try and keep still as Dimitri filled and stretched him. The huge cock had his insides <em> throbbing</em>.</p><p>“Ah, Khalid-!” Dimitri gasped, bottoming out, panting. “Y-you’re clenching!”</p><p>Looking up, Claude did his best to undo the tension, but he could barely focus with Dimitri against his prostate, electrifying him with every twitch.</p><p>“Sorry, I… Don’t think I can stop myself,” Claude said. Dimitri huffed.</p><p>“N-no, Khalid, it-!” He stopped when Claude’s hips shifted ever so slightly, a moan humming through his chest and throat. “It feels.. So good.” His hands slipped up Claude’s legs, setting off sparks under his skin, grabbing ahold of his hips, gasping, “Goddess, if you could see yourself right now.”</p><p>Claude’s blush lit up his face, turning it away, but Dimitri’s small first thrust brought him immediately back.</p><p>“You look gorgeous.”</p><p>He moved again, a little more, drawing back then pressing his length deep inside him. Stars danced across Claude’s vision.</p><p>“Lying there, falling apart beneath me-!” Dimitri’s brows knitted together as he started to quicken his pace, pulling out further then slamming back in. Claude’s world spun.</p><p>“Oh, <em> Goddess </em> , you feel so <em> good</em>-!” cried Dimitri, and Claude could no longer control himself. He couldn’t control his voice, his movements, his thoughts. Completely at Dimitri’s mercy, he could do nothing but toss and turn while sinful noises and words slipped past his lips.</p><p>He couldn’t have been happier.</p><p>Steady thrusts pounded into him, brushing his prostate, arching Claude’s back. Like the night before, he cried out Dimitri’s name.</p><p>“Dimi-! Dimitri! A-ah, <em> fuck</em>-!”</p><p>Unlike the night before, Dimitri responded.</p><p>“I’m here,” He whispered, letting one hand brush Claude’s cheek, voice and fingers strikingly gentle as his hips slammed into Claude’s with wet slaps. “I’m here, darling.”</p><p>Claude could only moan in reply, drawn-out and slow. His entire body moved with every thrust. He drank him in, the way he smelled, the sound of his soft keens, the way his skin felt against Claude’s. His nails dug into Dimitri’s back as he threw his head into the pillow.</p><p>“Dimitri-! So good, so big-<em> ah</em>! Right there! So good…!”</p><p>His praise only seemed to spur Dimitri on. He sped up, grunting, leaning over to bite into Claude’s shoulder once again. Claude tried in vain to match his rhythm.</p><p>“Khalid,” Dimitri groaned, dry lips smacking. “Can I… C-cum inside…?”</p><p>Claude didn’t give him a chance to say more, grabbing onto his face and kissing him fiercely.</p><p>“Please,” he moaned into his lips, messily nipping and sucking on whatever he could, “P-please cum in me, Dimitri, <em> fuck</em>-!”</p><p>Dimitri’s hips shook. Every thrust sent him deeper, sent Claude reeling. White started dancing across his vision.</p><p>“I’m gonna cum,” Dimitri whimpered, hands gripping Claude’s thighs hard enough to leave red marks. “F-fuck, Khalid, I’m gonna cuuuuuum-!” Moans intercepting his words, he bit down on Claude’s shoulder, muffling his cries with his skin.</p><p>“M-me too,” Claude mewled. He could only feel Dimitri, only feel his touch, only feel his cock deep inside him, coming inside him. Claude’s jaw trembled.</p><p>“I’m c-! I’m cu-<em> uh</em>-! I’m comi… Ah- <em> aaaahhh</em>-!”</p><p>Claude’s orgasm rocked through him, lasting what felt like ages, spurting trails of cum all the way up his chest.</p><p>Then, they could only sit there, panting. Bodies sore, trembling. Dimitri’s white hot seed dripped out of Claude, even more when he finally slid out, drawing gasps from both of them.</p><p>“You were so good.”</p><p>They couldn’t be sure who started the praise, or the light, fluttery kisses that dotted their faces and lips and anywhere else they had left marks.</p><p>“You did so well.”</p><p>They washed each other down, taking a sponge and the room’s small water bucket to wipe off. They used balm that smelled like mint on sore muscles.</p><p>“Did you like it?”</p><p>A hum, another kiss.</p><p>“You were amazing.”</p><p>Kisses like down, warm and fluffy.</p><p>“So amazing.”</p><p>Bathed in afterglow, sleep pants pulled on, Claude sat in Dimitri’s lap. He ran his fingers across Dimitri’s hands, taking in how sturdy and strong they felt.</p><p>“Dimitri?”</p><p>His face buried in Claude’s shoulder, nose brushing against sensitive bruises, Dimitri made a small grunt in response. Claude pursed his lips a little.</p><p>“What am I to you?”</p><p>He could feel Dimitri’s hesitation. The way his breath hitched, the way his hands tensed. But it didn’t last long.</p><p>“That... Depends,” he finally said, his words almost slurred with exhaustion. “I know how I feel,” he added, “but what do you want to be to me?”</p><p>Claude didn’t mull it over. He didn’t have to. He knew the answer now, after fighting it for months. And he smiled.</p><p>“I want to be yours,” he confessed. He closed his eyes and leaned back, feeling Dimitri’s chest, his shoulder. “I want to be lovers.”</p><p>For a second, Dimitri said nothing. Only his hands and lips moved, stroking his hair, kissing the crown of his head, arms wrapping around him from behind.</p><p>“... I’d like that,” he whispered. He squeezed a little, once, and Claude could see his eye close.</p><p>“Mine,” he said. Claude chuckled, nestled against him.</p><p>“Yours.”</p><hr/><p>“Lindy!”</p><p>No sooner had Lindhardt looked up than Dorothea threw her arms around his shoulders, crushing him in a hug. Lindhardt audibly sighed.</p><p>“I’ve asked you not to call me that,” he muttered. Pointedly ignoring him, Dorothea stepped back, playfully folding her hands in front of her.</p><p>“What’re you doing in the library so late?” She asked, to which Lindhardt raised a green eyebrow.</p><p>“I should ask the same of you,” he muttered.</p><p>Dorothea faltered for a split second. She couldn’t very well tell Lindhardt about her research, about coming into the library nearly every evening to try and learn more about the Demonic Beast, about what had happened to Dimitri. So she smiled.</p><p>“Call it extra-curricular,” she shrugged. Lindhardt’s frown twitched, disbelief prevalent in the way he watched her, eyes looking directly into her face as if he could pick apart her brain.</p><p>But eventually, he sighed, turning back to his study desk, the book and quill there.</p><p>“Actually, I’m-”</p><p>Sudden shaking ripped through the castle walls. Dorothea gasped, clinging to a bookshelf as books tumbled from it. An ear-splitting roar filled the air, the floor itself trembled as if the earth was splitting in two, and Lindhart-</p><p>Lindhart rolled his eyes. He raised his book to his face as if trying to read it properly despite the shaking.<br/>“Are you going to freak out like that every time?”</p><p>His jaded voice broke through the tremors. Tearing his eyes from his book, he looked up at her for only a moment.</p><p>“You know perfectly well it’s the Beast. It does the same thing every night,” he yawned. Without looking, he reached across the desk to grab a candle that threatened to topple. “Or are you playing dumb on purpose?”</p><p>With a frown, Dorothea straightened herself as the shaking slowed. No matter how much friendship she showed him, Lindhardt rarely said a word to her; he seldom spoke at all, almost always dozing during training sessions. He simply kept to himself, to his books, and the few times that Dorothea had offered him a smile or a friendly greeting had ended in sarcasm and fragile, awkward smiles. This was the most they had talked in the few months she had known him.</p><p>Dorothea cleared her throat.</p><p>“I still haven’t been told what it’s doing every night,” she said cooly. Linhardt hummed.</p><p>“Haven’t you heard? It’s looking for Dimitri.”</p><p>Dorothea froze in place. She whipped around, eyes wide, heart stopped for a fraction of a moment.</p><p>Lindhart only tilted his head.</p><p>“Huh. I was right,” he said casually. Dorothea made a noise like a choked chicken.</p><p>“W-what are you-?!”</p><p>“It’s not hard to figure out if you’ve got two braincells to rub together,” sighed Lindhardt, leaning back in his chair. “People often miss what’s right under their noses, though.”</p><p>Dorothea could feel her magic crackling in her palms. Her mind raced, weighing every option in split seconds, wondering how easily she’d be blamed for his murder. But to leave him alive-</p><p>“Don’t worry,” Lindhardt added suddenly, waving a hand in the air. “I’ll keep this to myself.”</p><p>Frowning, Dorothea only stared at him. The enigma of a man only yawned again, closing his eyes, his arms casually behind his head as if he didn’t understand the weight of his words.</p><p>But he did. She <em> knew </em> he did, but whether he toyed with her by revealing himself or he simply didn’t care, she couldn’t fathom. So Dorothea steadied herself as best she could.</p><p>“Linhardt,” she said slowly, “How much do you know and who told you?”</p><p>She knew better than to lie to him, to scoff and say he must be imagining things. Even after exchanging only a few curt words, she knew she couldn’t just bluff and smile, charming her way out of his puzzle. He wove his web too tightly for her to struggle.</p><p>Lindhardt shrugged.</p><p>“I know enough,” he said, “and I figured it out by myself. Like I said, it’s not hard.”</p><p>Without warning, his casual air dropped. He looked at her again, cold eyes watching, judging, a hawk focused on its prey.</p><p>“Anyone could see something’s off from the way the Emperor treats you. You’re prisoners in all but name. You know this, right?” He watched for her reaction as he spoke. “You’re only allowed to stay because she fears what would happen if you left.”</p><p>Dorothea could hear her heartbeat now. She wondered if Lindhardt could, too, beating against her ribs like a drum.</p><p>“... Why are you telling me all this?”</p><p>Lindhardt shrugged again, closing his eyes.</p><p>“Call it stirring the pot. I want to see how this all plays out,” he said. Dorothea took a deep breath.</p><p>“Then… Can you help us?”</p><p>Lindhardt paused. He pried open his eyes almost blearily, gazing at her. Clearing her dry throat, she spoke again.</p><p>“If you know what we’re trying to do,” she said slowly, “you can help us.”</p><p>As is searching her very soul, Lindhardt watched her. He watched the way she shifted on her feet, the way her hands met in front of her, the way she stared right back at him even through her fear. And he shrugged again.</p><p>“Even I don’t know the Beast’s weakness,” he sighed. “That’s a royal family secret, I’m afraid.”</p><p>Dorothea tried to keep the fire in her hands dormant, though she nearly roasted him like a holiday duck for leading her on.</p><p>“But.”</p><p>A cat pricking its ears, she snapped back to attention. Lindhardt clicked his tongue.</p><p>“I’ve heard stories.”</p><p>His eyes closed again, and Dorothea almost wondered if he had gone back to sleep before he spoke once more.</p><p>“There’s a riddle. A legend. One that tells you where to find the Demonic Beast,” he explained. “None of it’s ever been confirmed, though. It’s just a story that gets whispered around here, late at night,” he said. He raised a hand as if reciting a soliloquy, “‘Reach for the light, when the moon strikes the crown. Meet not the eye of the eagle, and the dead shall guide you.’”<br/>In the silence that followed, Dorothea stood there, lip twitching.</p><p>“And… What does it mean?” She asked.</p><p>Lindhardt’s scoff had her hands sparking.</p><p>“I have a few ideas. Not like I’d tell you, though.”</p><p>Dorothea could only watch him, could only stare as he slid his chair away from the desk, picking up his books in his arms.</p><p>“Like I said, I’m not on either side of this. I’m just observing. Studying, in a way,” he said. He looked towards her once more, eyes trailing hers. Then, he sighed, shoulders sagging.</p><p>“Dorothea,” he said slowly. “Your magic is much more powerful than you think. It could be permanent if you don’t act.”</p><p>She couldn’t speak any more. She couldn’t react, couldn’t even wave goodbye or thank him for his help, however strange it may have been. She could only watch as he headed to the library door.</p><p>“Your main enemy won’t be the Emperor,” Lindhardt continued. He looked back at her one last time, free hand on the doorknob. “You’re fighting time, Dorothea. And unless you find a better way to fight back, Dimitri will be fully human soon.”</p><p>The door closed shut behind him, the sound echoing through the silent library.</p><p>Silent, except for the clock, counting down seconds to midnight.</p>
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